“With London 2012 almost upon us, it will soon be Rio’s turn to be under the spotlight. It was therefore an opportune time for us to come and visit President Rousseff,” said El Moutawakel, who underscored the tough road ahead for Olympic organizers in Rio de Janeiro.

“The challenge in front of the Brazilian team is an impressive one given the scale of the Games project and the immovable deadline of August 5, 2016. Rio 2016 and its partners continue to deliver successfully on their commitments but as we have said since day one, there is not a second to waste,” she added.

Brazilian stakeholders such as sports minister Aldo Rebelo, state governor Sergio Cabral, Rio mayor Eduardo Paes, APO president Márcio Fortes and Rio 2016 chief Carlos Nuzman were also in on the briefing.

"We are very pleased to be working with the three levels of government to make Rio 2016 an example to future Olympic host cities," said Nuzman.

Besides regular update meetings, IOC inspectors also visited the Athletes’ Park, a site adjacent to the Olympic Village that will serve as a leisure area for athletes during the Games, and witnessed the signing of documents that set the guidelines for use of Olympic buildings by the real estate market in legacy mode.

The initiative will tackle the structural, environmental and cultural regeneration of the Porto Maravilha region.

The project review, Rio’s fifth to date, ran Tuesday through Thursday with a visit by the larger IOC Coordination Commission scheduled for June.

Medellin Signs YOG Candidature Procedure

Medellin, Colombia charges ahead with its bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games by accepting the IOC’s regulations for the process.

Officials including Medellin mayor Anibal Gaviria Correa, Colombian Olympic Committee president Baltazar Medina and sports minister Andres Botero, also an IOC member, met this week to sign the YOG Candidature Procedure, a document due to IOC headquarters in Lausanne by March 15.

Buenos Aires, Argentina; Glasgow, Scotland; Guadalajara, Mexico; Rotterdam, Netherlands and Poznan, Poland are the other five cities in the race launched March 1.

The next deadline in the process is October 15, by which formal candidature files and related documents are due to the IOC.